Football Matters: Premier League Preview - The Rest of the Top Ten

Soccer Game

Part 3 of my Premier League Preview

After the teams fighting for the Champions League and top six slots we have four teams who I think will be able to complete the top ten and possibly challenge for a European slot if the other slip up. Although Leicester City won the league last season I don't see them repeating the same form this year. West Ham have probably the best chance of getting into Europe after a great end to 2015/16 and both Everton and Stoke City should have enough quality to make the top ten.

7th – West Ham United

The Hammers finished seventh last season and I expect more of the same from the East London club who now play their home games at the Olympic 'London Stadium'. In Slaven Bilic they have a manager who gave his all for the club as a player and he seems to have picked up the reigns very well from where current England manager Sam Allardyce left off. He managed Croatia from 2006 to 2012 and followed that up with spells at Lokomotiv Moscow and Besiktas before taking over at West Ham in 2015. Like any team in their position they have a solid team with a few stand-out players. For West Ham that certainly means Dimitri Payet who was my player of 2015/16 and took the Euro 2016 tournament by storm. I also believe Mark Noble and Michail Antonio deserved to be in the England squad and now that Allardyce is in charge they will hopefully get their chance. The summer signings have been good with Andre Ayew from Swansea and Sofiane Feghouli from Valencia especially. I don't know much about Havard Nordveit and will be interested to see whether he plays midfield with Noble or in the back line with Winston Reid.

Ins = Andre Ayew – Swansea City - £20.5m, Toni Martinez – Valencia – Undisclosed, Arthur Masuaku – Olympiakos – £6m, Ashley Fletcher – Manchester United – Undisclosed, Havard Nordveit – Borussia Moenchengladbach – Free, Domingos Quina – Chelsea Academy - Free. Sofiane Feghouli – Valencia – Free, Gokhan Tore – Besiktas – Loan, Jonathan Calleri – Deportivo Maldonado - Loan Outs = James Tomkins – Crystal Palace - £10m, Joey O'Brien – Released, Elliot Lee - Released

Loans Out = Lewis Page – Coventry City, Josh Culln – Bradford City, Josh Pask – Gillingham, Stephen Hendrie – Blackburn Rovers, George Dobson – Walsall, Kyle Knoyle – Wigan Atheltic

Squad =

GK – Adrian – 29 – Spain – 2013 from Real Betis

GK – Raphael Spiegel – 23 – Switzerland – 2012 from Grasshopper Zurich

GK – Darren Randolph – 29 – Republic of Ireland 13 caps – 2015 from Birmingham City

RB – Sam Byram – 22 – England – 2016 from Leeds United

RB – Alex Pike – 19 – England – Youth product

LB – Aaron Cresswell – 26 – England – 2014 from Ipswich Town

LB – Arthur Masuaku – 22 – France – 2016 from Olympiakos

CB – Winston Reid – 28 – New Zealand 19 caps – 2010 from Midtjylland (Denmark)

CB – Angelo Ogbonna – 28 – Italy 12 caps – 2015 from Juventus

CB – James Collins – 32 – Wales 49 caps – 2012 from Aston Villa

CB – Reece Oxford – 17 – England – Youth Product

CB – Doneil Henry – 23 – Canada 19 caps – 2015 from Apollon Limassol (Greece)

CB – Reece Burke – 19 – England – Youth product

CM – Mark Noble – 29 – England – Youth product

CM – Havard Nordveit – 26 – Norway 28 caps – 2016 from Borussia Moenchengladbach

CM – Cheikhou Kouyate – 26 – Senegal 24 caps – 2014 from Anderlecht

CM – Pedro Obiang – 24 – Spain – 2015 from Sampdoria

CM – Diego Poyet – 21 – England/Uruguay – 2014 from Charlton Athletic

RM – Michail Antonio – 26 – England – 2015 from Nottingham Forest

RM – Sofiane Feghouli – 26 – Algeria 40 caps – 2016 from Valencia

RM – Gokhan Tore – 24 – Turkey 26 caps – 2016 from Besiktas (on loan)

LM – Andre Ayew – 26 – Ghana 67 caps – 2016 from Swansea City

LM – Martin Samuelsen – 19 – Norway 1 cap – 2015 from Manchester City

AM – Dimitri Payet – 29 – France 26 caps – 2015 from Marseille

AM – Manuel Lanzini – 23 – Argentina – 2016 from Al Jazira Club (UAE)

ST – Andy Carroll – 27 – England 9 caps – 2013 from Liverpool

ST – Diafra Sakho – 26 – Senegal 4 caps – 2014 from Metz

ST – Enner Valencia – 26 – Ecuador 29 caps – 2014 from Pachuca (Mexico) ST – Ashley Fletcher – 20 – England – 2016 from Manchester United

ST – Jaanai Gordon – 20 – England – 2014 from Peterborough United

ST – Luka Belic – 20 – Serbia – 2015 from OFK Beograd (Serbia)

ST – Jonathan Calleri – 22 – Argentina – 2016 from Deportivo Maldonado (Uruguay)(on loan)

8th – Everton

I did have the Toffees lower down to start with until I remembered Ronald Koeman joined in the summer and I rate him highly. I wasn't a fan of Roberto Martinez and always thought Everton could do better than him and with the Dutch legend at the helm I can see them challenging the top six in 3-5 years if he is given time and resources. Over the years their youth academy has produced some excellent players from Wayne Rooney to Jack Rodwell and their latest young star, John Stones, just brought in nearly £50m income. It will be interesting to see how Koeman invests the money and if he can keep hold of Romelu Lukaku then they could have a successful season. On the other hand if they get cash for Lukaku too then it gives them an impressive financial war chest to go shopping with but they are better off doing that now rather than later to avoid a last minute rush at the tills. Their midfield is already strong with Idrissa Gueye joining James McCarthy in the middle and they certainly have depth there. They will however need to replace the ageing legs of Phil Jagielka, Gareth Barry and soon even Leighton Baines. The signing of Ashley Williams is a great temporary move but at 31 years old he won't be in the back line for long.

Ins = Ashley Williams – Swansea City - £12m, Maarten Stekelenburg – Fulham – Undisclosed, Idrissa Gana Gueye – Aston Villa – Undisclosed, Bassala Sambou – Coventry City – Undisclosed, Chris Renshaw – Oldham Athletic - Undisclosed Outs = John Stones – Manchester City - £47.5m, Tim Howard – Colorado Rapids – Undisclosed, Steven Pienaar – Released, Leon Osman – Released, Tony Hibbert - Released

Loans Out = Russell Griffiths – Cheltenham, Conor Grant – Ipswich Town

Squad =

GK – Maarten Stekelenburg – 33 – Netherlands 54 caps – 2016 from Fulham

GK – Joel Robles – 26 – Spain – 2013 from Atletico Madrid

RB – Seamus Coleman – 27 – Republic of Ireland 38 caps – 2009 from Sligo Rovers

RB – Jonjoe Kenny – 19 – England – Youth product

LB – Leighton Baines – 31 – England 30 caps – 2007 from Wigan Athletic

LB – Brendan Galloway – 20 – England – 2014 from Milton Keynes Dons

LB – Luke Garbutt – 23 – England – Youth product

CB – Phil Jagielka – 33 – England 39 caps – 2007 from Sheffield United

CB – Ashley Williams – 31 – Wales 65 caps – 2016 from Swansea City

CB – Ramiro Funes Mori – 25 – Argentina 13 caps – 2015 from River Plate (Argentina)

CB – Tyias Browning – 22 – England – Youth product

CB – Mason Holgate – 18 – England – Youth product

CB – Matthew Pennington – 21 – England – Youth product

CM – James McCarthy – 25 – Republic of Ireland 39 caps – 2013 from Wigan Athletic

CM – Idrissa Gueye – 26 – Senegal 32 caps – 2016 from Aston Villa

CM – Gareth Barry – 35 – England 53 caps – 2014 from Manchester City

CM – Muhamed Besic – 23 – Bosnia 26 caps – 2014 from Ferencvaros (Hungary)

CM – Darron Gibson – 28 – Republic of Ireland 27 caps – 2012 from Manchester United

CM – Tom Cleverley – 26 – England 13 caps – 2015 from Manchester United

CM – Tom Davies – 18 – England – Youth product

CM – Kieran Dowell – 18 – England – Youth product

CM – Ryan Ledson – 18 – England – Youth product

AM – Ross Barkley – 22 – England 22 caps – Youth product

RM – Kevin Mirallas – 28 – Belgium 50 caps – 2012 from Olympiakos

RM – Aaron Lennon – 29 – England 21 caps – 2015 from Tottenham Hotspur

RM – Gerard Deulofeu – 22 – Spain 1 cap – 2015 from Barcelona

LM – Aiden McGeady – 30 – Republic of Ireland 85 caps – 2014 from Spartak Moscow

LM – Brian Oviedo – 26 – Costa Rica 29 caps – 2012 from FC Copenhagen

ST – Romelu Lukaku – 23 – Belgium 49 caps – 2014 from Chelsea

ST – Arouna Kone – 32 – Ivory Coast 39 caps – 2013 from Wigan Athletic

ST – Oumar Niasse – 26 – Senegal 8 caps – 2016 from Lokomotiv Moscow

ST – Shani Tarashaj – 21 – Switzerland 5 caps – 2016 from Grasshopper Zurich

ST – Bassala Sambou – 18 – Germany – 2016 from Coventry City

ST – Conor McAlneny – 23 – England – Youth product

ST – Leandro Rodriguez – 23 – Uruguay – 2015 from River Plate Montivideo (Uruguay)

9th – Stoke City

He divides opinion among football fans but I personally have a lot of time for Mark Hughes. He's doing an excellent job at Stoke with limited funds and resources and the club is now in a position to bring in talented players like Bojan and Xherdan Shaqiri. I think he didn't get a fair chance at Manchester City in his time there and his spells at Fulham and QPR after that were both poisoned challices. Now at Stoke he has the chance to create a legacy which could see him considered for a higher profile role. I personally didn't baulk at the idea of him managing Chelsea when his name went into the mix before Antonio Conte. Stoke are certainly one of the teams that nobody looks forward to playing as they are difficult to beat especially at what is now called the Bet365 Stadium.

Ins = Joe Allen – Liverpool - £13m, Ramadan Sobhi – Al Ahly - £5m, Ryan Sweeney – Wimbledon - Undisclosed Outs = Steve Sidwell – Brighton & Hove Albion – Free, Ben Barber – York City – Free, Peter Odemwingie - Released

Loans Out = Mark Waddington - Kilmarnock

Squad =

GK – Jack Butland – 23 – England 4 caps – 2013 from Birmingham City

GK – Jakob Haugaard – 24 – Denmark – 2015 from FC Midtjylland

GK – Shay Given – 40 – Republic of Ireland 134 caps – 2015 from Aston Villa

GK – Daniel Bachmann – 22 – Austria – 2011 from Austria Vienna

RB – Glen Johnson – 31 – England 54 caps – 2015 from Liverpool

RB – Phil Bardsley – 31 – Scotland 13 caps – 2014 from Sunderland

LB – Erik Pieters – 28 – Netherlands 18 caps – 2013 from PSV Eindhoven

CB – Ryan Shawcross – 28 – England 1 cap – 2008 from Manchester United

CB – Marc Wilson – 28 – Republic of Ireland 24 caps – 2010 from Portsmouth

CB – Philipp Wollscheid – 27 – Germany 2 caps – 2015 from Bayer Leverkusen

CB – Geoff Cameron – 31 – USA 46 caps – 2012 from Houston Dynamo

CB – Marc Muniesa – 24 – Spain – 2013 from Barcelona

CB – Dionatan Teixeira – 24 – Slovakia – 2014 from Dukla Banska Bystrica (Slovakia)

CB – Ryan Sweeney – 19 – Republic of Ireland – 2016 from AFC Wimbledon

CM – Charlie Adam – 30 – Scotland 26 caps – 2012 from Liverpool

CM – Joe Allen – 26 – Wales 31 caps – 2016 from Liverpool

CM – Glenn Whelan – 32 – Republic of Ireland 73 caps – 2008 from Sheffield Wednesday

CM – Giannelli Imbula – 23 – France – 2016 from FC Porto

CM – Ollie Shenton – 18 – England – Youth product

CM – Eddy Lecygne – 20 – France – 2012 from Lamballe (France)

AM – Stephen Ireland – 29 – Republic of Ireland 6 caps – 2014 from Aston Villa

RM – Xherdan Shaqiri – 24 – Switzerland 57 caps – 2015 from Inter Milan

RM – Jonathan Walters – 32 – Republic of Ireland 41 caps – 2010 from Ipswich Town

LM – Marko Arnautovic – 27 – Austria 55 caps – 2013 from Werder Bremen

LM – Ibrahim Afellay – 30 – Netherlands 53 caps – 2015 from Barcelona

LM – Ramadan Sobhi – 19 – Egypt 6 caps – 2016 from Al Ahly (Egypt)

ST – Bojan Krkic – 25 – Spain 1 cap – 2014 from Barcelona

ST – Mame Biram Diouf – 28 – Senegal 37 caps - 2014 from Hannover 96

ST – Joselu – 26 – Spain – 2013 from Hannover 96

ST – Peter Crouch – 35 – England 42 caps – 2011 from Tottenham Hotspur

ST – Dom Telford – 19 – England – 2015 from Blackpool

ST – George Waring – 21 – England – 2013 from Everton

10th – Leicester City

The story of Leicester's triumph against all odds last season has been told too many times so I won't focus on that. Although they got everything right last season I also believe they won the title because everyone else got it wrong and I can't see that happening again this season. I think them winning the title last season was the wake up call the big clubs needed to get their houses in order as many of them had become too complacent. Chelsea were the worst, sticking with a manager for too long out of loyalty after he alienated everyone around him and made all the wrong moves in the transfer market (Selling Kevin De Bruyne, Thorgan Hazard and Andre Schurrle were all mistakes in my opinion) and relying too heavily on his 'favourites' like John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic. This is a Leicester section though and I've gone 'off topic' but my point is that Chelsea, Arsenal, City, United and even Spurs all blew the chance to win the title and Leicester benefitted. This season I think a top ten finish will still be counted as a success for them considering twelve months ago they were relegation candidates. They key midfielder, N'Golo Kante, has left for Chelsea and they are fighting to keep Riyad Mahrez still. They have made some good buys again in the market as they always do great research but may struggle in future as their chief scout has left to join Everton under Ronald Koeman. The main man at Leicester though is the manager Claudio Ranieri who did such an excellent job last season. He was unfairly dumped from Chelsea back in 2004 and it's surprising that last season was his first major league title. He has won Serie B with Fiorentina, Serie C with Cagliari and Ligue 2 with Monaco but never a top division. He did win the UEFA Super Cup with Valencia in 2004 though after he left Chelsea and also won the Copa del Rey and Intertoto Cup with them in his first stint in 1999.

Ins = Nampalys Mendy – OGC Nice - £13m, Bartosz Kapustka – Cracovia - £7.5m, Ron-Robert Zieler – Hannover 96 - £2.6m, Ahmed Musa – CSKA Moscow – Undisclosed, Raul Uche Rubio – Rayo Vallecano – Undisclosed, Luis Hernandez – Sporting Gijon - Free Outs = N'Golo Kante – Chelsea - £32m, Andrej Kramaric – Hoffenheim - £7.6m, Joe Dodoo – Rangers – Undisclosed, Jonny Maddison – Yeovil – Free, Jacob Blyth – Motherwell – Free, Ryan Watson – Barnet – Free, Dean Hammond – Sheffield United – Free, Paul Konchesky – Released, Mark Schwarzer – Released, Harry Panayiotou - Released

Loans Out = Callum Elder – Brentford, Michael Cain – Blackpool, Hamza Choudhury – Burton Albion

Squad =

GK – Kasper Schmeichel – 29 – Denmark 22 caps – 2011 from Leeds United

GK – Ron-Robert Zieler – 27 – Germany 6 caps – 2016 from Hannover 96

GK – Ben Hamer – 28 – England – 2014 from Charlton Athletic

RB – Danny Simpson – 29 – England – 2014 from Queens Park Rangers

RB – Ritchie De Laet – 27 – Belgium 2 caps – 2012 from Manchester United

LB – Jeff Schlupp – 23 – Ghana 13 caps – Youth product

LB – Christian Fuchs – 30 – Austria 78 caps – 2015 from Schalke 04

LB – Ben Chilwell – 19 – England – Youth product

CB – Wes Morgan – 32 – Jamaica 28 caps – 2012 from Nottingham Forest

CB – Robert Huth – 31 – Germany 19 caps – 2015 from Stoke City

CB – Marcin Wasilewski – 36 – Poland 60 caps – 2013 from Anderlecht

CB – Liam Moore – 23 – England – Youth product

CB – Luis Hernandez – 27 – Spain – 2016 from Sporting Gijon

CB – Yohan Benalouane – 29 – France – 2015 from Atalanta

CM – Danny Drinkwater – 26 – England 3 caps – 2012 from Manchester United

CM – Matty James – 25 – England – 2012 from Manchester United

CM – Gokhan Inler – 32 – Switzerland 89 caps – 2015 from Napoli

CM – Nampalys Mendy – 24 – France – 2016 from OGC Nice

CM – Daniel Amartey – 21 – Ghana 9 caps – 2016 from FC Copenhagen

CM – Andy King – 27 – Wales 36 caps – Youth product

RM – Riyad Mahrez – 25 – Algeria 24 caps – 2014 from Le Havre

RM – Marc Albrighton – 26 – England – 2014 from Aston Villa

LM – Demarai Gray – 20 – England – 2016 from Birmingham City

LM – Bartosz Kapustka – 19 – Poland 11 caps – 2016 from Cracovia (Poland)

ST – Ahmed Musa – 23 – Nigeria 58 caps – 2016 from CSKA Moscow

ST – Shinji Okazaki – 30 – Japan 102 caps – 2015 from Mainz 05

ST – Jamie Vardy – 29 – England 11 caps – 2012 from Fleetwood Town

ST – Leonardo Ulloa – 30 – Argentina – 2014 from Brighton & Hove Albion

ST – Tom Lawrence – 22 – Wales 4 caps – 2014 from Manchester United

ST – Raul Uche – 18 – Spain – 2016 from Rayo Vallecano